


Turning Tables

by Rasqeu



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Confusion, Doubt, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Fights, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mid-canon and then Non-canon, Mild Blood, Non-Canon Relationship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Regret, hopefully multichapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2019-10-07 01:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17356295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rasqeu/pseuds/Rasqeu
Summary: The battle with the Imprisioned came too soon, and the Chosen Hero did not collect all the pieces of the Triforce in time for the Awakening of Demise.If Ghirahim does not interfere in this battle, his fun-- even if stressful --times with the Sky Child will be nothing more than scattered memories.[This is set somewhere near the ending of Skyward Sword. The Imprisioned managed to free himself with Ghirahim's help before Link could gather the Triforce. The part where Link ends him with the Triforce power and Ghirahim takes Zelda to the past in order to release him again does not happen in this setting.Also, I figured that, in order for this fic to happen, Ghirahim didn't actually need Zelda to revive Demise. He must have managed to gather enough power from other sources to turn the Imprisioned into Demise again.]





	1. Lost Battle

**Author's Note:**

> This is the very first fanfic I post anywhere, because somehow I always get scared of not being able to finish my stories and dissapointing readers. I started writing it in 2017, but it's 1AM and I'm bored, so why not?  
> I know that Skyward Sword is kind of old, but if anyone still shipps GhiraLink and ends up liking this fic, let me know.  
> Since english is not my mother tongue, feel free to point out mistakes. c:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit small, but hopefully the next chapters can be longer.

That was the end of it. A long, exhausting way had to be overcomed, but they got to the end of it. Link, stronger than that child Ghirahim had seen all those times before, was just standing still, despite having cuts all over his body and what once was his shield, lying shattered someplace behind them in the battlefield. Link had really grown his courage, wisdom and power, but it wasn't enough. The time came when the Imprisoned finally released himself from the seal that was binding him and made his big appearance together with Ghirahim, who had made such an enormous effort to free his master. Too soon. There was nothing that Zelda-- no, that Hylia --could do now. It was time for The Hero to fight and bring peace to the land once for all.  
But The Hero was losing.  
Link wasn't the only one who grew stronger. Both Ghirahim and Demise had their full forms, and they also held a strength Link had never seen before when fighting them. And they were fighting together. If fighting them separately had been hard, how in heavens could he ever win a battle against both of them, without having completed the Triforce? 

Ghirahim knew that he only needed one more cut to end Link. Just one. The boy was too fragile.  
But he didn't want to end it, to end their story. Truth is, regardless of how tiring it had been, it also had been fun nonetheless. Planning traps, following and even fighting Link had been interesting. It made Ghirahim's spirit higher.  
But, if Link lost this battle, it would all be over. Even the wonderful and different places he went to, the Desert (and even the beautiful land it had been in the Past), the Volcano, the Woods and the Waterfall, it would all die and succumb into all the malice of his master. Somehow, the thought made him feel bad. Empty.

When Demise kicked Link, sending him to the ground, the Master Sword slipped off his hands, but the boy kept trying to stand up again. Ghirahim's master wasn't even using him-- his sword --anymore. He was just having fun bringing his opponent down over and over again. With each hit, Ghirahim felt worse. It wasn't really necessary, to play with the enemy, a child, who had already lost…  
But then, Demise ordered Ghirahim to rise as a sword. He was going to try and give The Hero the final blow. But the man’s sword didn't get ready to fight.  
Ghirahim refused to move, feeling confusion rise to his mind. He went back to his humanoid form, and stood between his Master and the fallen Hero. For everyone's surprise, even himself, he wasn't going to let it end like this.

Demise rose his voice, ordering him to go back to his side -- For fuck’s sake, what was his subordinate doing? It was absolutely unbelievable. But the Demon Lord stood still, not letting his master get to the boy.  
Link asked, faintly, what was wrong with him. Ghirahim didn't know how to answer that. He didn't know what was, in fact, wrong with him. But he let his feelings and instincts take over on that matter.

Demise was getting angry, and started to walk heavily towards Ghirahim. The Demon Lord had to think fast on how to gain some time for the Hero, but the boy's shield and sword were too far away or too damaged. If he was really keen on saving the boy, he would have to let the Sky Child wield him.

He called to the boy's attention, his movements slow while he still was trying to put himself up after Demise kicked him. --Psst, Sky Child. Can you get up any faster? The world kinda needs to be saved or something. I'll count till three, okay? THREE!-- Ghirahim said quickly as he threw a set of small daggers to slow Demise down -- which were effortlessly caught or shoved away by his former master-- and turned into a sword again.  
It was just the right time for Link, confused out of his mind, to grab the heavy black sword in his hands.

The Hero's head was bleeding and he didn't exactly understand what in the Goddess’ name was happening, but if Ghirahim was weirdly changing sides it wasn't his business and he had a sword in his hands and only one target now. Staggering, he stepped forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted a small cliffhanger just to make me more excited to write next chapters. Sorry about it~


	2. Bloodshed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI IT'S ME AGAIN! I definitely did not give up on this fic! It just takes time to write it.  
> This chapter is a little bigger, I hope you enjoy it!

The clashing of swords could be heard by a distance, but there was no crowd to watch the Final Fight. The creatures from the Woods were all hidden, scared to their core of the result of the battle. The loud sounds and grunts, the lingering darkness and the constant anxiety were too much for one to dare to get out of their refuge.

With a tight grip on the dark, thorny sword, Link ignored his fatigue and wounds and carried on. Neither of them-- Link nor Ghirahim --had a thought in mind, fully focused on defeating the dreadful enemy ahead of them. (Which was, in fact, a good thing, because if the Demon Sword had time for reasoning, he would have regretted letting himself be wielded by the child).

With strange newfound strength, Link stopped Demise’s advance, pushing him back and throwing his weapon far away, forcing him to summon new ones and begin another attack from scratch. This happened successively, and with each advance Link got surrounded by dark smoke, as if his body was caught on some invisible fire. Demise kept having to recede, barely able to defend the attacks from the boy who moments before was effortlessly kicked to the ground. The kid was stronger with Ghirahim beside him, and he now didn't have his faithful weapon anymore.

It sounded like he really had underestimated The Hero, and without the Demon Sword's help his odds were not good. But the reason why the one that had helped him to break free from his imprisonment in the first place had deserted him was beyond his logic. 

Demise kept rushing forward, being easily disarmed by the movements of his former sword. Summoning weapons was tiring, especially for one who just got released from a powerful seal, and the rhythm he was being obliged to do it was something to worry about. The battle was getting long, and none of the opponents seemed to be willing to surrender, sweat covering their bodies.

After a while, Demise's advances began to get slower, tiredness showing all over his harsh expression and grunts. Link, on the other way, had no visible emotion at all: The sweat dripping from his face and limbs was the only signal that his body was receiving the consequences from the fight, and the only thing that differed between him and a ragged doll. Focused in a way beyond a human could, his body now was almost all covered in black, smoke still coming out of him. Even Demise did not know what was happening to the Hero, and thinking too long about that actually was the turning point.

While Demise went over Ghirahim's abilities and tried to guess what was taking over The Hero, Link changed from a defense position to an attack one, pretending to rush towards his opponent. Startled, Demise got pulled from his thoughts and had to focus on the fight again, staring at Link's dead serious eyes while summoning a shield. Just before what Demise wrongly thought to be a sword advance, Link spun his body and kicked his enemy with all strength, shattering Demise's poor attempt of a shield and pushing him to the ground, the sound of cracked ribs startling. With the little time he gained, he walked towards Demise, pointing the sword to his throat. He tried to drag himself away from Link, gathering balance to stand again, but Link increased his pace and jumped towards his opponent, delivering the Ending Blow in his chest as a stroke of mercy. Link then stood on his knees for a small amount of time, holding the sword pierced in Demise’s chest. It was as if everything, including himself, had frozen in time, as if The Hero was a robot, waiting for his next command after fulfilling the prior.

Ghirahim was the one that came to his mind first. When he transformed back into his humanoid form, Link had nothing to hold onto and lost his balance, falling sidewards, still motionless. The Demon Lord’s vision became blurry for a couple of seconds, and the unsteadiness made him fall down on his knees. His white, flawless gloves and clothing were now a dark red, the layers of fabric soaked in the blood of his former master and Demon King. 

Ghirahim took off his cape and gloves while shaking in terror, desperate do get rid of the blood that covered him. He wanted to believe that the dead body in front of him was nothing but an illusion from the Goddess, something to deceive him. But it was all too real. 

This wasn’t the plan, he thought. He absolutely did not intend to betray his master in such a despicable way. All he wanted was, maybe, a little more time to enjoy fights and hide-and-seek with the Chosen human. It shouldn’t have ended like this!  
The Demon Lord then remembered all the times he had threatened Link before. He had practically sworn to make him drown in his own screaming.

He still could do that, he thought. There was still time for The Hero to perish, and that way both sides of the war would lose a powerful fighter.  
Ghirahim stood up in front of Link and used his foot to turn the boy, making him face upwards. He pressed his boot on the center of The Hero’s chest. His green clothes were all bloddy, ripped and torn, and his breathing was heavy.

The Demon Lord then realized that something was wrong with the boy. Humans did not usually have dark smoke coming out of their bodies-- It wasn’t their thing--, and Link wasn’t always this red, neither was his temperature so high: the boy had a serious fever.  
The black marks-- which Ghirahim located as the source of the smoke --were new in The Hero’s body as well. He had never seen such a rough reaction to the Dark power.  
But it was none of his business. His duty now was solely to eliminate The Chosen One. He pressed his foot harder, and Link groaned in pain.  
The Demon Lord stopped at the sound.

The boy was most likely to die in there anyways, and dying slowly is more painful, therefore more suited for his revenge. If that's so, why bother with finishing him...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOOOOO I think I kinda suck at writing battles. Sorry.  
> (yup, I used a Twilight Princess move).  
> Also I keep editing this work's tags. If you think I should add any, please say so. (I will also edit it when I come up with a chapter title... I am rushing to post it bc I REAAAALLY wanted it online already.)  
> Same for english errors. Some always manage to slip through my fingers...


	3. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me way too long to update this and I 100% blame college for it

Ghirahim did not leave the forest unseen. The Master Sword spirit, Fi, witnessed everything firsthand. She calculated the probabilities of that outcome and they were incredibly small, and for that, she was what hylians would call surprised. There was nothing she could do to help Link, since she could not reach for him or carry him, being only a sprite, but the chances that some creature that could be of physical help to him appear before long were high, since the battle was already over and all that currently filled the forest was silence. 

The sickness afflicting Link was not fatal either; he would recover after some rest and purifying. It was intriguing, nonetheless: Fi had never seen or had the data to understand what happened between Link and Demon Lord Ghirahim in the battle. They seemed in perfect connection with each other, perfectly synchronized, oddly precise. Link could probably take all the dark influence that came from wielding the Dark Sword had he finished his training. 

The Sword Spirit went over the odds of that ending once more and tried to gather possibilities on the reason for Ghirahim's turn of sides. It was illogical -- it could not be a trick or trap of any kind since Demise got ended. Even though the Demon Lord had fled from battle before (claiming he had more important things to do than battle Link, since he had to free his master and all), he had never changed sides in battle, nor shown signs of intending to. He was only overdramatic and seemed to appreciate battling, but that's as far as it went.

Analysing the way Ghirahim acted during that last battle, it was clear to Fi that the Demon Lord was unstable through it and had not planned that outcome beforehand. However, that was not all there was to it -- it seemed like he had some sort of -- affection? -- towards the Chosen One. It made little sense, considering they were essentially opposites and he seemed to nourish only feelings of hate and antagonism towards the boy he tried to kill so many times, but his actions and expressions betrayed his mask this time, the solid proof being the fact he left Link alive after the battle was done, when he was unconscious. Had he decided to finish him, he would need little effort and have a 99,9% chance of success.

Fi’s initial predictions were soon fulfilled - after a few minutes of complete silence, Erla, the braver of the Kikwi, got out of a bush and started to look around. Upon seeing no movement, he approached Link’s body, touched his face and called for him, getting only faint mumbles for an answer. The small creature began to call his colleagues by their names, but they did not answer, not even their leader -- Fi estimated they were too scared, and decided not to take a physical form just yet, fearing that the small creature would be scared and go back to his hiding place again. Even though the other Kikwis did not answer, Erla’s screams were not useless: Gorko soon also came out of his hiding place and rolled to where the Hero lied, worried about his fallen acquaintance. With a Goron present instead of only the known-to-be-coward Kikwis, Fi decided to make an appearance, calculating that she was likely to be heard by the one who had recently arrived. 

“I apologize for the sudden appearance, but it is imperative that Master Link is taken to Skyview Springs in the midst of Faron Woods”, the sprite said, floating on top of the Master Sword -- “His body got heavily influenced by the Dark Forces during the battle, and he needs to get to the waters in the depths of the temple in order to purify himself and restore his health”. -- She finished with a flourish.

The Goron got startled by Fi’s sudden presence and took a long time to process what was asked of him, being too impressed by the creature in front of him -- surely, a work from the Goddess -- but before long he collected the Master Sword, took the injured Hero in his solid-rock arms and began the walk towards the temple. He knew the way, but he asked the Kikwi to come with him as well, just to make sure they were headed to the right place. 

By the time the group arrived at the spring, Link’s condition had gotten slightly worse -- he now coughed and trembled harshly. Following Fi’s instructions, Gorko took the harp from the boy’s bag, delivering it to Fi, and placed his injured friend in the water so he was covered up to his torso. The contact with the waters made Link groan in pain, and blood began to pour out of his injuries along with a black unknown liquid.

Fi slid over the waters of the spring, stopping in front of the Triforce symbol, and began to play the harp, each note filled with Light Power to heal The Hero’s wounds and counter Ghirahim’s Dark influence. 

The song began to take effect before long, the sacred liquid of the baths emanating light -- and Link’s reaction to it was rough and intense, his body contorting and his mumbles indicating excruciating pain -- but eventually his reflexes and breathing slowed down, and the dark marks seemed to no longer cover his body. When the song ended, there was no blood or anything else in the crystal waters.

“I estimate that Master Link will need a considerably long time to rest now, so I must ask you to take him someplace safe and let him sleep in order to recover from the difficult time he went through during the battle” - Fi explained, turning to the Goron while speaking. He proceeded to get the boy back to the Temple in the Woods, where the group split and they spread the news of The Hero’s victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Link won't wake up until he recieves a kiss from his prince charming ;)))))))) jk

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this. I don't plan on making it too long, just enough to give the characters time to get in good terms with each other in a non - akward way.  
> Support is always appreciated, I hope I can actually finish this story.


End file.
